Television aerial mast turner



Jan. 20, 1959 RCLLOUDEN TELEVISION AERIAL MAST TURNER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 15, 1952 INVENTORL #0551521. 1100054 BY ATmR/VEY' Jan. 20, 1959 L, LOUDEN I 2,869,387

TELEVISION AERIAL MAST TURNER Filed Au 15, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 O gym.

2 1 4 4 /2 l0 /4 q j 34 l0 2 2 s n Z0 1111/1/11, I M72111- L111 26 k8 E O ofqwg/ l n s 3 L 6 /0 A! 49 INVENTOR. #055511 Z .ZOl/D5N A TTUFIVE Y United States Patent Orifice Patented Jan. i 3859 TELEVISION AERIAL MAST TURNER Russell Lee Louden, Dayton, Ohio Application August 15, 1952, Serial No. 304,547

1 Claim. (Cl. 74-425) This invention relates to improvements in devices for turning a television aerial mast and has for its primary object to provide an easily installed and operated mechanical means for turning an aerial mast and to provide a simple but efiicient means in association therewith whereby the exact location, north, south, etc., of the mast can be quickly determined.

A further object of this invention is to provide a unit for rotating a mast, which can be attached to a conventional mast with only a simple modification of the mast.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mechanical means for rotating a television aerial mast and for locking the mast in any selected position.

These and ancillary objects and structural features of merit are attained by the invention, wherein;

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a mast turner and control devices constructed in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is front elevational view thereof;

Figure 2A is a front elevational view of a directional chart used in connection with the turner;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 6--6 of Figure 5, and,

Figure 7 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on line 77 of Figure 3.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, a supporting standard 10 is illustrated and is mounted in a manner not shown to a building. The standard supports a television aerial mast 12 which is rotatably mounted at its lower end in a housing 14. The housing 14 has an opening in its top wall 18 to receive the mast, which is tubular but, of course, can be solid and of any cross-sectional shape. A rubber gasket 16 is secured to the top wall concentric to the opening and snugly engages the mast 12 to prevent water from entering the housing 14.

U-shaped bolts 20 are circumposed on the standard and have their ends extending through openings in the adjoining side of the housing and fixed by nuts 22.

A partition 24 is formed in the housing 14 above and parallel to the bottom wall 26 and defines a gearbox 28. A shaft 30 is journalled in the sides of the housing within the gear box 28 and transversely of the housing 14 and has a worm 32 mounted thereon. The Worm is enmeshed with a pinion gear 34 which is fixedly circumposed on a vertical shaft 36, the gear 34 lying horizontally in the gear box.

The bottom Wall 26 is formed with an opening to receive the lower end of shaft 36. A T-shaped key 38 is provided to connect the shaft 36 and mast 1.2 together with the gear 34 being fixed on the shaft. The leg 40 of the key is secured to the shaft above the gear 34 and the head 42 of the key is inserted in a transverse slot 44 in the lower end of the mast. Thus, as the gear 34 is rotated by the worm 32, the mast 12 is turned to reorient the aerial.

To rotate the Worm 32, a sprocket 46 is fixed on the shaft 30 and a chain 48 is entrained thereon. To the ends of the chain, flexible elements, such as the ropes 50 and 52 are connected and extend down to the desired point. Weights 54 and 56 are fixed to the ends of the ropes, as seen in Figure 2A, and the weight 54 is associated with a chart 58 that is vertically marked with sym bols and letters representing various directions. The weight 54, overlying the chart 58, indicates the position of the aerial.

The ropes 50 and 52 extend through openings 60 and 62 in the wall 64 and are guided by pulleys 66, which may be placed, as is necessary to insure friction free and easy movement of the ropes.

In use, the ropes 50 and 52 have their lower ends, with the weights 54 and 56 thereon, located in a desired place within a house and by pulling the ropes the aerial can be turned to face in any desired direction.

While the best known embodiment of this invention has been described herein, other forms of the invention can be made as comewithin the purview of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

Means for supporting and rotating a vertical television antenna mast having a key slot in the lower end thereof comprising a housing including an upper wall having an opening for snugly receiving said mast therethrough, a horizontally positioned worm gear mounted in the lower end portion of said housing, a key centrally afiixed to said gear and extending upwardly therefrom to engage in said key slot, a horizontally extending shaft journalled in said housing, a worm affixed to said shaft and enmeshed with said gear, a sprocket aflixed to said shaft, a drive chain enmeshed with said sprocket, and a cable attached to each end of said chain.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 4,644 Mershon Nov. 21, 1871 797,780 Osborne Aug. 22, 1905 1,095,682 Smyser May 5, 1914 1,292,842 Mayner Jan. 28, 1919 1,744,548 Hershey Jan. 21, 1930 2,230,807 Lorentzen Feb. 4, 1941 2,578,151 Ronfeldt Dec. 11, 1951 OTHER REFERENCES Short Wave and Television, July 193 8, pp. 142 and 192. 

